Third Degree: Zoë Sharp, creator of the Charlie Fox thrillers

Zoë Sharp wrote her first novel when she was 15. It was not until 2001, however, after she had tried her hand at jobs ranging from van driver to newspaper ad sales to motoring correspondent, that she finally publisher her breakout Charlie Fox novel Killer Instinct. Fox, the self-defence instructor with a shady military background, has proved hugely popular with readers through nine novels and has been optioned by Twentieth Century Fox TV. We brought Zoë in for questioning to see who she would like to see playing Charlie on screen, and what TV shows tick the right boxes for her…

Your favourite British crime series or thriller on TV?First of all, I should declare that I don’t have ‘proper’ telly. My TV set is just a monitor connected to a DVD player, so in order to watch something I have to have heard enough good reports to go out and buy the series on DVD. There have been quite a few I’ve bought and either watched one series but not been inspired to rush back for the rest, or that I’ve given up on part-way through.

I suppose of recent stuff it has to be Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role as the modern-day Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr Watson. I enjoyed the stylish series about professional con artists, Hustle, and going back years I used to be a huge fan of The Professionals. I also thought The Fixer with Andrew Buchan as government-sanctioned assassin John Mercer, and Vincent with Ray Winstone as the titular private detective, were both very good, but only lasted two short seasons. I LOVED the adaptations the BBC did of three Lord Peter Wimsey stories in the 1980s (which I re-watched recently) with Edward Petherbridge as Wimsey and Harriet Walter as Harriet Vane.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in Sherlock. Pic: BBC

Favourite US crime series or thriller on TV?NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles vie for the top spot, along with Human Target, about ex-assassin turned protector Christopher Chance. The original CSI is always entertaining, although I giggle at the procedure. [That’s what I refer to as ‘CSI Classic’ (Las Vegas) rather than ‘CSI Lite’ (Miami) or ‘CSI Dark’ (New York)] I’m currently watching the second series of Lie To Me with Tim Roth as Dr Cal Lightman, human lie-detector, which is pretty good, but is it strictly crime? Oh, and I saw the first series of Justified about US Marshal Raylan Givens with Timothy Olyphant—excellent stuff!

Of made-for-TV movies – do they count? – the best has to be the Jesse Stone adaptations of Robert B Parker’s series about the police chief of small New England town Paradise, with Tom Selleck in the title role. Beautifully shot, beautifully scored, and acted with superb understated skill, although only the first few were scripted by Parker himself and I think you can really tell when someone else takes over.Top TV cop?Hmm, got to be Sherlock Holmes again, I think, in any of his incarnations. I used to watch reruns of the old black-and-white Basil Rathbone versions, although Nigel Bruce played Watson as such a bumbler. The Jeremy Brett series was excellent, but the current modern setting is extremely well done.

Which unfilmed book/character should be made into a TV drama?Quintin Jardine’s series about tough Edinburgh cop Bob Skinner is one of my favourites. Or JD Robb’s futuristic series about New York detective Lt Eve Dallas. (Because I guess I’m not allowed to nominate my own Charlie Fox series, although it was optioned by Twentieth-Century Fox TV…?)

If one of your novels were filmed, who would you cast to be the hero?I’d love the British actress who narrates my UK audiobook versions to be considered—Clare Corbett. I’ve really got used to hearing her voice as Charlie. But I thought Natalie Tena (Nymphadora Tonks in the Harry Potter films) would be excellent, or Kate Beckinsale (particularly liked her in the Underworld films). And I recently saw Haywire with mixed martial arts champion Gina Carano in her first movie role, and she would kick some serious arse as Charlie. But the truth is, because the books are written in first-person—and therefore I look out through Charlie’s eyes all the time—I see the other characters in more detail than my main protagonist. I always describe her fairly lightly, so readers can picture her inside their own minds.

What do you watch with a guilty conscience (or what’s your guilty pleasure)?The first couple of series of Ultimate Force about an SAS troop, with Ross Kemp, Tony Curran, and Jamie Draven. Didn’t like the later couple of series as much when they’d had big cast changes. It’s incredibly macho-macho, but fun as well. Never been into typically girlie TV, I’m afraid—Sex and the City and Friends largely passed me by.

Least favourite cop show/thriller? I grew up absolutely loving the Leslie Charteris books about Simon Templar, The Saint, but I couldn’t even finish sitting through the dreadful Val Kilmer movie version a few years ago. Such a disappointment. I wasn’t even a big fan of the Roger Moore or Ian Ogilvy TV versions from the 1960s and 1070s. The original books were written and set in the 1930s. It would be very cool to see a period adaptation, one that stuck closer to the original criminal ethos of the character rather than making him into a somewhat wet private detective.

Do you prefer The Wire or The Sopranos?Dreadful admission time—I haven’t watched enough of either series to form an opinion.

David Suchet as Poirot. Pic ITV

Marple/Poirot or Sherlock Holmes?Definitely Holmes, I’m afraid, although I find the David Suchet version of Poirot slightly more watchable than Miss Marple.

Wallander – BBC or the Swedish version? Not watched either <gulp>. Which do you recommend? Actually, I recently saw part of the Swedish-language version of the first of the Stieg Larsson trilogy and found that after a while I was making sense of the language in little snatches, so if I was going to take a flyer on one or the other, I’d try the Swedish version I think.

US or British television crime dramas?I like both. As long as the scripts are good and they’re well acted, who cares? At the moment there are probably far more US crime dramas I watch enough to buy the series on DVD, rather than UK. Not sure why that should be…

Best new crime author to look out for?Probably Bruce DeSilva. I just read an ARC of his second novel, Cliff Walk, a follow-up to his award-winning debut, Rogue Island, and he has a terrific style, and a great eye for character and ear for dialogue.

Favourite non-crime/thriller author?I think I’d go for Dan Walsh, a Mancunian motorcycle journalist who wrote a brilliant book about his travels on two wheels around Africa and South America called These Are the Days that Must Happen to You. He’s a prose-poet, just brilliant.

Favourite crime movie or thriller?Again, there are a few, including those Jesse Stone TV movie adaptations I already mentioned. Front and centre is Ronin with Robert Di Niro, superbly directed by John Frankenheimer. That movie also has one of the best director’s commentaries I’ve ever listened to. Under Siege is still one of my favourites, too, plus Heat, The Usual Suspects, Inside Man, and True Lies. Some movies you watch once and go, ‘Well, I’ve seen that now, I don’t need to see it again.’ And others become perennial favourites—comfort movies you put on when it’s raining outside and you’re feeling a bit below par, because you know you’re going to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

You’ve been framed for murder. Which fictional detective/sleuth would you want to call up?If I needed someone to prove it wasn’t me, I’d call on Sherlock Holmes, but if I needed someone to come and bust me out of jail, it would have to be Jack Reacher.

• Zoë’s latest Charlie Fox thriller is Fifth Victim (UK paperback, left, due 30 July; US hardback, right, is already out). While the life of her lover, Sean, hangs in the balance, Charlie throws herself into work protecting wild child Caroline, the daughter of a rich businessman, whose thrill-seeking threatens to put her and Charlie in danger…Follow @crimetimeprev

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Welcome to CrimeTimePreview‘s series of interviews with authors about their TV and reading habits.

• PETER ROBINSON is the author of the Inspector Banks novels – the fourth series of which has just started on ITV (see the post below). A multi-award-winning novelist, he was born in Yorkshire and now divides his time between Toronto and Richmond, North Yorkshire. We brought him in for questioning, and here he makes a full and frank confession of his criminal viewing and reading habits…

• ADRIAN McKINTY is one of the most acclaimed new crime writers from across the Irish Sea, routinely mentioned alongside Ken Bruen, Declan Hughes and John Connolly. His series of edgy thrillers about Catholic detective Sean Duffy and the character’s exploits while working in the none-too-comfortable surroundings of the RUC during the Troubles, and later MI5, are developing a big following and have been hugely praised by reviewers. These include The Cold Cold Ground, In the Morning I’ll Be Gone and Gun Street Girl. Here, he reveals his favourite TV shows, characters and authors…

• WE’VE dragged one of Britain’s major crime practitioners in for questioning. Multi-award-winning IAN RANKIN is the creator of Edinburgh detective inspector John Rebus, the tenacious but chippy hero of bestsellers such as Black and Blue, Fleshmarket Close and Resurrection Men. The character was turned into a series by STV with first John Hannah and then Ken Stott portraying him. ITV filmed Rankin’s standalone novel Doors Open in 2012. After retiring Rebus in Exit Music, he introduced his readers to Malcolm Fox in The Complaints, before bringing Rebus back in 2012’s Standing in Another Man’s Grave.

• Manchester-based crime writer CATH STAINCLIFFE is interrogated below for evidence of her TV viewing and reading activities. She writes the novels based on the Scott & Bailey series, which stars Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones and is soon to return to ITV – with her latest book about the female detectives being Bleed Like Me. Cath is also the author of the Sal Kilkenny private eye stories and creator and scriptwriter of Blue Murder, which was on ITV and starred Caroline Quentin.

• Hauled in for questioning is British crime writer and Guardian reviewer LAURA WILSON, who is currently working on her 10th novel. Laura, whose books include the DI Stratton series among other mysteries set in the recent past, talks about her TV and reading habits, from Cagney & Lacey to Agatha Christie…

• ZOE SHARP wrote her first novel when she was 15. It was not until 2001, however, after she had tried her hand at jobs ranging from van driver to newspaper ad sales to motoring correspondent, that she finally publisher her breakout Charlie Fox novel Killer Instinct. Fox, the self-defence instructor with a shady military background, has proved hugely popular with readers through nine novels and has been optioned by Twentieth Century Fox TV. We brought Zoë in for questioning to see who she would like to see playing Charlie on screen, and what TV shows tick the right boxes for her…

• CrimeTimePreview apprehended SIMON KERNICK, one of Britain’s most exciting thriller writers to grill him about his viewing proclivities. He arrived on the crime scene with his acclaimed novel The Business of Dying, a terrific story about a corrupt cop who moonlights as a hitman. His authentic thrillers are basedon research with members of Special Branch, the Anti-Terrorist Branch and the Organised Crime Agency. He has just finished writing his latest book, which will be called Siege.

• SOPHIE HANNAH, whose novel The Point of Rescue was recently turned into the drama Case Sensitive by ITV1, is the author of internationally bestselling psychological thrillers – Little Face, Hurting Distance, The Other Half Lives and A Room Swept White. CrimeTimePreview recently brought her in to be questioned about her addiction to Class A plotting on television…

• Scottish author TONY BLACK, creator of Gus Dury in stories such as Gutted and Long Time Dead.

• Belfast crime writer SAM MILLAR, author of books such as The Redemption and the award-winning memoir On the Brinks.

• Crime novelist PAULINE ROWSON, author of the Marine series of mysteries, is pulled into CrimeTimePreview headquarters for questioning.

• Award-winning British novelist ANN CLEEVES is a serial crime writer, with her collections including amateur sleuths George & Molly, Inspector Ramsay, the soon-to-be-televised Vera Stanhope and the recent Shetland Island Quartet (now a BBC1 series with Douglas Henshall). CrimeTimePreview pulls her in for questioning about her TV habits…

• We brought thriller writer MATT HILTON into headquarters for questioning about his TV and reading activities.

• ALINE TEMPLETON is the author of the series of novels about DI Marjory Fleming, set in Scotland. Her stand-alone mysteries include Past Praying For, The Trumpet Shall Sound and Shades of Death. She lives in Edinburgh. She was brought into CrimeTimePreview HQ for questioning about her TV viewing habits…

• Award-winning crime author STEPHEN BOOTH has written 11 mysteries involving the detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry with a distinctive, sometimes menacing Peak District setting. He was a newspaper and magazine journalist for 25 years before publishing the first Cooper/Fry novel, Black Dog, in 2000. CrimeTimePreview quizzed him about his criminal viewing activities…